Wawasee State Fish Hatchery [Historical] - Syracuse, IN - Fish Hatcheries on Waymarking.com

This site is one I have known my whole life. As a child my grandparents and parents would take me over to see the fish in the display ponds that lined the road by the near by Galloway's Grocery when ever we would go to get groceries for our lake cottage. The display ponds were quite the attraction back then and there were often crowds of people walking up and down the roadside looking at all the different kinds of fish.

Back when I was a kid (the 1960's) the display tanks were on the north side of Hatchery Road and were made of concrete. They ran just about the entire length of what is now the public fishing area. I believe the concrete curb that can still be found in the grass some 12 feet or so off the roadside is the original curb that ran along those display tanks. The tanks all had signs hung by them telling what kind of fish were in each tank. The tanks were fairly shallow (only a few feet deep) and you could easily see the fish.

Beyond the tanks were ponds that covered what is now the grassy flat land to the north of Hatchery Road towards the lake shore. Ponds were also located in what is now the boat trailer parking area to the east and the Papakeechie community Building (old fire house)to the west. The ponds also covered the area to the west of the community building and on the other side of the spillway from lake Papakeechie to Wawasee.

The fish hatchery land was originally made available as usable land when lake Papakechie was dammed up prior to World War I. The lots were being sold around the newly formed lake and the area that was to become the fish hatchery was set aside for a golf course.

The golf course never came to pass and by 1912 Mr. Sudlow (the man who built the dam to form Lake Papakechie) gave the state the right to perpetually use the grounds so long as they be used for hatching ponds and that the state stock lake Papakeechie annually with bass. The state eagerly agreed with his request. He also allowed the state to remove any amount of gravel necessary for construction of the ponds from the nearby hills he owned.

Two ponds were first built in 1912 and were located immediately to the east and west of the spillway between the lakes. Each pond was about 3 1/2 acres. Three years later more land was purchased (the land where the boat trailer parking is now)and 8 ponds were constructed in that area. The original two large ponds on each side of the spillway were also divided that year. The pond to the west of the spill way was divided into 3 ponds running east and west and the pond to the east was divided into 4 ponds (these were laid out as the ones to the west but the far south pond was split into two to bring the total to 4). It is the original east pond of 1912 that was divided into four that are the only remaining ponds intact today. You must look hard to find them but they are there as of 2011, nearly a hundred years after they were created. The length of them has been shortened, they have been about half filled in (east half filled). They are completely overgrown but still do hold water. (I wonder if there are any old bass still living in there - they would be pretty big by now LOL).


The area that is now the large grassy picnic area along the shore of Wawasee once made up 13 more ponds of the hatchery not including the display tanks. As you can tell this was a very large hatchery operation in its heyday.

The first house to the west of the spillway located on top of the hill was the caretakers home (not the present little brick building housing the DNR offices). This is the reason the house does not face the lake like you might expect it to. It was built to overlook all of the ponds of the fish hatchery. It was built rather large for its time because is was to not only house the caretaker but also deputies and wardens who were brought in during the season to help with the captures. The house was built for them to stay in as well as the caretaker. The reason for the terraced hill in front of the house is because the gravel from the hill was removed to form the retaining walls of the ponds made in the hatchery.

Thanks and credit go to the Syracuse Historical Museum for many of the historical photos and the Syracuse Library's local history collection for some of the background data.

Just as a footnote, as you look at the aerial shots and lake frontage the hatchery takes(took) up consider that in 2011 that lake frontage sells for about $1.2 million per just 100 feet in width, never mind any acreage behind it.

Type of Facility: Fish Hatchery Management Agency: State/Provincial Government Has a Vistor Center: no Offers Tours: no Relevant Web Site: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/30/2014 DnRseekers visited it